Captains
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Dominique and Roxanne are cousins and best friends. After a few earlier problems, what will happen when Dominique gets the one thing Roxanne has always wanted?
1. Chapter 1

Roxanne was going to kill me. That was my first thought when I unfolded my Hogwarts letter. Most likely, it would be a slow and painful death. Although, we were best friends, so she might make it quick. And, we're cousins, so maybe I'd get out alive. Still, Roxie would be anything but happy if she found out. _When_ she found out, I corrected myself.

Roxie and me, we had been best friends since we were young. We had made it our common goal to annoy the daylights out of my older sister Victoire and to corrupt our younger cousins. If it hadn't been for Molly, who was a year younger than we were, but had (somehow!) managed to keep us from doing _too_ crazy stuff, I'm sure we would have taken over the world years ago.

Needless to say, our friendship was strengthened when we were sent off to Hogwarts when we were eleven. After all, we were the only Weasleys at Hogwarts (apart from Victoire, of course, who didn't want to have much to do with first years when she was thirteen), so we stuck together like only best friends and cousins could. Now, six years later, as we were about to enter our seventh and last year, I knew that the world wasn't as perfect as it might appear.

Like Victoire and our younger brother Louis, I had inherited our mother's looks; although it was our great-grandmother who had been a Veela, we would still be considered part-Veela, so naturally perfect in every way, aesthetically seen. Our temperaments weren't very pretty, though, but we weren't sure whether that was the Veela-blood, or the Weasley-blood. Anyway. Being part-Veela attracts loads of boys. I had seen it happen to Victoire, and I vowed that I would never go out with blokes who were just attracted to me because of my descent. I didn't keep that promise, however, because honestly, what girl would pass up the chance to date the hottest blokes in school, even if it was only the Veela-blood that drew them your way in the first place? Not me, I can tell you that much. I didn't know, I swear, that I went to Hogsmeade with a boy Roxie had been pining after for months. She told me after the date, because she hadn't known before. The problem was, this didn't happen just once. I think, in the past three years, it happened _at least_ five times. It wasn't as if Roxie was ugly or something, far from it. It was just the lack of Veela-blood that made the difference.

My mother had been a Tri-Wizard champion; my father had an important function at Gringotts. Victoire had been Head Girl. Needless to say, I was pretty smart, if I do say so myself. I'm not saying Roxie wasn't; she always had more than decent grades. But for some reason, every time we studied together (which was almost always), I still received better marks on my essays than she did.

So naturally, Roxie searched for a refuge. Understandable, if you've got a best friend who (even though it's not on purpose) beats you in everything. Due to her parentage, it's not very hard to guess what this refuge was: Quidditch. Roxie joined the House-team in our third year, when they had a shortage of Chasers. But since she's such a good friend, she somehow convinced me to try out as well. Neither of my parents had played Quidditch, and Victoire, too, stayed away from brooms as far as possible, so I didn't expect too much of it. But as you might have already guessed: the other person to become a new Gryffindor Chaser was me.

At this moment, I was glad Roxie didn't become a Beater like her father and her younger brother Fred.

Roxie's new refuge became pranking. Through her father, she always had the newest stuff to pull the best pranks in Hogwarts' history. At least, in my opinion. In the beginning, I had joined her on her raids, but I soon found out that I wasn't quite a prankster. It was nice to see things happen to your enemies, but it was rather tiresome to prepare it all.

Whenever Roxie wasn't pranking or doing homework (forced by yours truly), she was playing Quidditch. She always pushed herself to be the best, the fastest, the most dedicated player on our team (or maybe, on all teams at school). Why I'm telling you all this? Well, you see, apart from my usual letter and booklist, there was something else in my envelope this year. A badge, and a note telling me that I, Dominique Weasley, had become Gryffindor's new Quidditch Captain. Yes. Roxie would most definitely kill me.

* * *

**A/N**: Well, what did you think? Let me know, please review!

**Disclaimer**: right, obviously, I don't own the Harry Potter world...


	2. Chapter 2

Our annual back-to-school dinner (only established when Teddy Lupin, my uncle Harry's godson and Victoire's (now, not then!) sort-of-boyfriend, was starting Hogwarts) was rather awkward. It could have been more awkward, though, if Roxie had actually been there. She wasn't; I silently thanked aunt Angelina for wanting to go on a holiday so late in August. Everybody congratulated me with my Captainship, but all I could think about was Roxie's reaction. I knew that she felt like I was casting a huge shadow, out of which she would never escape (she told me once, when she was drunk). I didn't mean to, honestly; as I said before, it was completely unintentional. It would have been a great opportunity for Roxie to step out of that shadow (if it really existed), becoming Quidditch Captain.

James was the only one who seemed a little sour. "So now I have to listen to you all year?" he asked, almost looking disgusted. Yes, James, love you too. It would have been me or Roxie anyway.

"Would you have liked listening to Roxie better?" I asked him, forming a plan in my head. If I could get James to question my authority, perhaps Neville (or, well, Professor Longbottom, as we had to call him at school) would make Roxie Captain instead.

James pulled a face. "No. Girls are stupid. I should've been made Captain. Or Fred."

I raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh. He really was a peculiar fourteen-year-old. His girls-are-stupid phase seemed to take longer to go away than any other boy's did.

In case you hadn't noticed yet, more than half the Gryffindor team consisted of Weasleys (and a Potter, of course). Apart from us, there was Cameron McLaggen, our Keeper, and Stephen Isaacs, our other Beater, both third years. Phil, our previous Captain and Seeker, had graduated last year, so we needed a new Seeker. At the family dinner, I got the suspicion that the entire family was trying to get Al to try out for that position. If he would try out, he would get it, I was sure of that; I had seen him play before, after all. Way to monopolize the Gryffindor team! Maybe world rule wasn't that far out of reach for us after all.

Now really dreading the next day, September 1st, I silently went to my room when we returned home from my grandparents' house. I still had to pack, and now seemed a perfect time for that. In the middle of folding up my clothes, Louis decided to come and annoy me.

"Get out, Louis," I muttered as he sat down on my bed, making all my books fall on the floor with that action.

"You don't seem very happy," he commented, ignoring my command. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Louis," I grunted, trying to stack my books in my trunk, on top of my clothes. I knew he didn't believe me, but he was the last person I wanted to have this conversation with. Even Victoire would be better, since she, at least, was a girl too.

"You're afraid of what Roxie will say tomorrow when she finds out," he told me. I looked up at him, an incredulous look probably plastered on my face. "I knew it." Though they were both fourteen, cousins and friends, Louis and James were pretty much polar opposites. James acted half his age most of the time, and Louis acted twice his age. Fred was the only normal fourteen-year-old in the family, it seemed. As normal as someone with Weasley as their last name can be, anyway.

"Everyone thought she would become Captain," I answered my brother. "Of course I'm afraid of her reaction. She wanted this so badly."

"If it really bothers you, maybe you could hand in the badge," Louis mused. "I don't know if that's possible, but under certain circumstances, it should be an option." He stood up and walked towards my door. Before he walked out, he told me, "It's not your fault that you've become Captain, Dom. And you probably won't even have to tell Roxie. She didn't get the badge, and there's no way that anyone would make a fourth year Captain when there are two seventh years on the team. She probably already knows that you're the Captain."

"Jeez, _that_ makes me feel a lot better," I mumbled, but Louis had already left. With huge effort, I managed to shut my trunk.

"Dom?" I heard Victoire yell only seconds later. "Is this your broomstick?"

Cursing silently, I flew to the stairs and looked down. Indeed, that was my broomstick. "Thanks Vic," I said as she handed it to me, "hopefully I'll be able to fit it all in my trunk…"

Victoire laughed. "You're the Quidditch Captain, Dom, you can't afford to leave your broom here!" Right. Maybe if I left some clothes here. The summer was over for the most part anyway, so there really wasn't any need to bring my entire summer wardrobe.

I didn't sleep very much that night. By the time I got up, I had slept about three hours (and I had been lying in bed for nine). It seemed that everybody tried to start a conversation with me, but I wasn't very responsive. I saw mum and dad exchanging worried glances, but I ignored it. The only person who really understood me was the person I was scared to face right now. Ironic, no?

I briefly wondered if I couldn't just leave the badge at home, but knowing my parents, they would send it after me before we would even arrive at Hogwarts. It was now tucked away in a pocket of my jacket, and I tried to look as normal as possible when we arrived at Platform 9 ¾.

The entire family was there already, and we were greeted as if we hadn't all seen each other the night before. After I had escaped a particularly big hug from aunt Ginny, I felt someone else hug me. Roxie.

"Hey, Roxie! How was the holiday?" I asked, laughing nervously.

"It was nice," she answered, shrugging. "I'll tell you later. We need to talk anyway." She gave me a pointed look that told me all I needed to know. She had already figured it out.


	3. Chapter 3

"So," I said, as we seated ourselves in an empty compartment.

"So," Roxie echoed, obviously trying to smile. Then, I cracked.

"Roxie, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I was so sure that you would get it!"

"It's alright, Dom," Roxie said, smiling sadly.

"No, it's not alright! You worked so hard for this, it's… it's unfair, that's what it is!"

"Dom, it's fine, really." From the look in her eyes, though, I could tell that it was far from fine. "I'm sure they had a good reason to give the badge to you instead of me."

"And they overlooked a million better reasons why they should give it to you," I mumbled.

Roxie just sighed and looked out of the window. We hadn't left yet, and we had a good view on our younger cousins (and siblings) getting their speeches. We had quietly snuck away and no one had called us back, so here we were.

"Can I at least see it?" Roxie finally asked. I hastily grabbed the badge (I assumed that that was what she was talking about) and handed it over. I promptly dropped my gaze to my hands, not wanting to see her face while she examined the one thing she had wanted more than anything since she had joined the team. Or maybe even before that, I didn't know.

"Dom," Roxie said softly, "don't worry 'bout it. It's not your fault, is it?"

"If I hadn't been on the team…"

"Then I wouldn't have survived until now either," Roxie finished. "But Dom, don't tell me you _also_ became Head Girl."

"Roxie, are you insane? Who would want to make me Head Girl?" Roxie fell silent for a moment. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Last year, Roxie had been fretting about becoming Quidditch Captain, and I had tried to console her by telling her that I couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't want to make her Captain.

"Good," she said, with a forced smile, "because if you were, I would have to start pranking you too this year."

I smiled back, starting to feel uneasy. Hopefully this tension wouldn't last all year.

"Dom? You do know that this is our last year, right? We _have_ to win this year!"

"I know, Roxie. But we've got the best Chaser in the entire school – no, what am I saying, in the entire country! You, I mean. And our other players are great as well. And once we've got a new Seeker, we'll have the best team in centuries. Nothing will stop us!"

"That's my line, Dom," Roxie said, though smiling slightly again (for real this time). "Well, let's hope we'll find a decent Seeker then."

"I think everybody in our family will kill Al if he doesn't try out," I said. "Yesterday they were all pushing him to join the team."

Roxie suddenly looked pensive. "Do you think we could bribe Cameron and Stephen to resign? Maybe we could get Rose to try out too. Or Lucy. Or Louis. Or Molly. Too bad Lily and Hugo aren't allowed to join yet."

I laughed at her comment. "I don't think Cameron and Stephen will want to resign, Roxie. We can easily reach world domination with those two tagging along. They can perform the nasty tasks."

During our talk, we had left the station. We kept on talking about our holidays (the last two weeks, that is; we had seen each other almost every single day before that), especially Roxie's vacation. We weren't disturbed until around lunch, when our compartment's door slipped open.

"Hey Roxie, Dom." It was Fred; but he wasn't alone. I don't know whether it was a coincidence or not, but he had brought along the rest of our team. And Al. But if he was going to try out, he would be part of the team anyway.

"We thought it would be nice to call a team meeting already," Stephen told us.

When Roxie looked pointedly at Al, James said, "We figured that Al might as well come along, he's going to be our Seeker no matter what happens. He has to, or else he'll 'disappoint' everyone. He's doomed."

"Shut up, James," Al muttered, flushing a bit. He didn't look like it was his own idea to come.

Most likely, James had dragged him along.

"Right," I said. "Well, if you'd rather leave, Al, go ahead. And James, I'm sure he won't disappoint everybody if he doesn't try out. If he doesn't want to try out, he won't try out."

"Thanks, Dom," Al said, smiling. "I think I'll go then, Hugo and Lily are probably driving Rose and Lucy crazy. Maybe I should save them."

While I dealt with the Potter brothers, Fred and Roxie had started fighting. Or rather, they had started a tickling match. Stephen and Cameron looked mildly amused. We were all used to this behaviour. I would say it's a typical siblings-thing, but I never had tickling matches with Louis or Victoire.

"Right," I said, when Roxie and Fred were done, "you wanted a team meeting, so… what's up?"

"Maybe we could discuss tactics or something?" Cameron opted.

"Tactics?" Roxie shouted, even though everyone was silent now and was within a couple of feet's radius around her. "We only have one tactic: to win!"

Did I mention that Roxie was a Quidditch fanatic?

"Yes!" Fred and James shouted in agreement.

"But we might need some more specified tactics," I said, interrupting their shout-fest. "I mean, I think that every team will want to win."

"Oh, but they won't," Roxie said, grinning maniacally. "We'll stomp them all."

Alright. I love Roxie, I really do, but she's pretty scary right now.

"Why don't we chat about tactics at our first practice?" I asked. I had suddenly realised that any good Captain (like Roxie) would have spent his/her whole summer thinking up tactics and plays and everything. I had done nothing, except dreading the moment I would have to face Roxie. So I was _very_ well prepared… alright, not really.

"Maybe that's a good idea too," Roxie replied. "Anyway, you all had better be prepared and ready and bloodthirsty for this year!"

Our teammates all saluted and marched out of the compartment. "Impressive," I told Roxie. "Though the bloodthirsty part could have been a little less extreme, I think."

"Oh well," she said, shrugging, "I'll be your bulldog this year. So I should be a bit extreme."

Somehow, we had returned to the topic of the captainship. I looked down again. "I'm so sorry, Roxie. I know you really wanted this – "

"Oh, shut up, Dom, I'm happy for you." I looked up, and Roxie was, once more, giving me a forced smile. Something told me she would be much happier yet if she had been the one with the badge.

The remainder of the train ride was spent in silence or by telling each other even more stories about the holidays, and I made a mental note to ask Nev – eh, Professor Longbottom – about his decision the next morning.


	4. Chapter 4

I was glad that I decided last year to take Herbology on NEWT-level. I was even happier when I found out that we had that class first thing the next morning. Of course, Professor Longbottom had handed me my schedule, but seeing as he had to hand out many more schedules, it didn't seem like the best idea to interrogate him at that moment.

Roxie didn't take Herbology anymore; she was still in bed when I left (due to a late night because of various welcome back-pranks). We were bound to get a full lecture today on the 'upcoming' NEWTs in most of our classes, so Herbology wouldn't be very different, I assumed.

While I unpacked my bag, Kimberly Jones, one of my other dorm mates, walked over. "Hey, Dominique, isn't Roxanne here?" As I shook my head, she asked, "Is it alright if I sit here, then?"

I nodded, mentally rolling my eyes. Roxie hadn't been here last year either, and I had spent my entire year sitting next to Kimberly. Maybe she suffered from some strange kind of memory loss.

After class, Kimberly seemed not to know whether she should wait for me or not, so I told her, "I have to ask something, just go."

She nodded quickly and left, and soon, I was the only student left in the room. "Professor?" I asked. Apparently, he hadn't noticed that I was still there.

"Dominique! What can I do for you?" he asked kindly.

"Well… it actually about – Quidditch," I said. Sure, I had planned on talking to him, but I didn't think of what I wanted to say.

"Ah, yes. Why don't you sit down for a minute? Were you very surprised when you got the badge?" he asked, smiling.

"You could say that, Professor," I said, grabbing a chair and sitting down opposite him. "I think everyone expected Roxie to get it."

He frowned. "Yes, we already thought that."

"Then why did you give it to me?" I asked, growing a little impatient. I had another class now, and I couldn't completely count on Kimberly to tell the Professor that I would be later.

"We had certain reasons for that," he answered. I could see that he was slowly becoming uneasy. "I agree that your cousin might have been the more obvious choice, but you have certain… qualities that are always very useful in this position."

"Qualities? Like what?" I demanded.

"Well – you have the power to – show that you're in charge. You have a certain authority, Dominique. And you're not getting into trouble almost daily."

"Roxie has authority!" I almost cried out. "And I'm sure that she would stop getting into trouble _daily_, Professor, if you had appointed her as Captain. She loves Quidditch more than anything!"

"Dominique – you know very well that Roxanne – well, she's not the serious type. And a Captain _needs_ to be serious. And I thought you would be happy to get the badge as well?"

"Of course I'm happy, and flattered, that you chose me, but – Roxie is way better than me! And yes, I love playing the game too, but not as much as she does! And you should see her – she completely serious when it comes to Quidditch!"

"Dominique, I'm sorry, but there's nothing that can be done now. You are the Captain, not Roxanne, and that's that. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe that there is a class of second years waiting for me."

With that, I was almost shoved out of the room, and of course, I bumped into Roxie. That must have been very awkward, because Professor Longbottom was gone before I even noticed that door was closed.

"Dom! What are you doing here?" Roxie asked, surprised.

"I had to ask something after class," I mumbled, slowly making my way towards the castle.

"About the Captainship, I assume?" she asked.

"Yes. I wanted to know why you weren't chosen."

"You know, I wanted to know that too. Did he tell you?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well, he basically said that you didn't have the authority and you get into trouble too often."

"And?"

"There was no 'and', Roxie. That was it. And then he started acting all disappointed because apparently, I wasn't happy with the badge, but I would be much happier if – "

"Dom… oh, I don't know. Maybe you should just be happy with the badge. You deserve it. I – have to go. Sorry."

With that, Roxie was gone as well. I had no idea what to do now; she probably needed to be alone for now, but if I didn't follow her, it would bother me as well.

I don't normally skip class, but this was an emergency. Sort of. After checking the dorms, I'd gone outside, looking for Roxie. The most likely place for her to be now was the pitch, and indeed, I heard her voice when I approached the field.

" – I know I should be happy for Dom, but it's – I don't get it. What did I ever do wrong to deserve this?"

In a normal situation, I would've tried to comfort her; now, it seemed that she was talking to someone else and didn't quite want me there.

"Roxie, it's alright. Of course you're mad. You deserved that badge, everyone knows that. Why else would Dom be going out of her way to find out just why you didn't get it?" Molly? I carefully looked around the stands and indeed, Molly was trying her best to comfort Roxie. I was glad she wasn't completely bashing me, though.

"I know," Roxie hiccupped. "And I love her for that, but – sometimes it's just so hard, being her best friend. She has everything. She's perfect. And the one thing I wanted most – " I felt even worse now than earlier. I knew I was far from perfect, but I also knew how Roxie felt. Well, that she felt this way, at any rate. "I want to be her friend, but – I don't know. She doesn't make it easy for me."

I opened my mouth, but closed it again quickly. Roxie seemed so… helpless, right now. It was terrible and I really wished I could help her. But at that moment, I had no idea how.

It hurt that she was discussing this with Molly, and not with me. Then again, if she had trouble with being my friend, I'd be the last person she'd talk to. I shifted my feet, and as I walked away, guilt and (I hate to admit it) jealousy washed over me. This had to stop. Roxie was to become the Captain if it was the last thing I'd do. If only I knew how.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple of weeks passed, and things were still awkward between Roxie and me. Most of the time, she was cheery enough and we had fun like we always had, but as soon as someone would mention _anything_ that had to do with Quidditch, her good mood would be rapidly changed into a gloomy one. Even if the conversation was about a match between professional teams or about some sibling of one of the Hufflepuff Chasers.

Every time, she told me (and everyone else) that it was alright, that she was over it and that she was happy for me. In all honesty, though, I think she wasn't really trying to convince us, but merely herself. It simply wasn't true. And that made me feel all the more guilty.

"Dominique Weasley?" I turned around to find a small girl (a second year, most likely) looking at me, wide-eyed, a slight trace of fear in her eyes.

"Yes?" I asked as nicely as I could. Roxie, who was standing next to me, chortled. She never bothered much with kindness, especially if she didn't know people.

"Er – " the girl said, her eyes shifting from me to Roxie and back, "Professor Sprout asked to give you this. Er – bye!" After handing me a note, she ran away as fast as she could.

Roxie looked after her, amused. "Maybe her parents should teach her some manners," she said jokingly. "Doesn't she know how _rude_ it is to run in hallways? She could bump into people and hurt them."

I gave her a pointed look. "Roxie, did you see how small she was? The only person she would hurt is herself. Now, if you would do that, on the other hand – "

"Is that a challenge?" Roxie asked excitedly. "Because if it is, it has to be the best I've been given in ages! I can't wait to see how many people I could land in the Hospital Wing by running through the school like a maniacal, completely wasted elephant on roller skates!"

"It wasn't a challenge, Roxie. I don't think the Hospital Wing is prepared for the amount of people you're bound to send there if you would pull something like that."

"Oh, right," Roxie said, slightly disappointed. "Hey, what does that note say?"

By that time, I had already forgotten about the note (trying to keep Roxie from executing her idiotic plan was more important than any note in the world). I unfolded it to see what Professor Sprout could want from me, and Roxie was leaning over my shoulder to read along.

_Miss Weasley,_

_Kindly report to my office after dinner (7 PM). You, along with your fellow Quidditch Captains, will learn the dates of the matches here, and any additional information._

_P. Sprout, Headmistress_

I heard Roxie gulp before I had even finished reading the note. Wonderful, it was about Quidditch again. Don't get me wrong, I love Quidditch, but it had become a sensitive issue ever since we had started school this year.

After what felt like a long silence, Roxie cleared her throat. "Well, I can't wait to hear which team we get to beat first," she said in a higher tone than usual. "Be sure to tell me after the meeting, alright? Oh – what are you planning for try-outs this year?"

I shrugged. "I don't really think it's necessary to make everyone on the team try out again, we had to do that last year. And if every second year is like that girl just now, we won't have to bother." We burst into a giggling fit, even though it wasn't the nicest thing to say. But hey, who said we had to be nice all the time? "So it's really only a Seeker we need to find. I'll decide when to do try-outs tonight. Maybe we'll even discuss those in the meeting. It'll be good not to put off the try-outs for too long, I suppose. The sooner we've got a complete team, the sooner we can start practicing."

Roxie had fallen silent during the second part of my talking, but at the word 'practice', she grinned. "I can't wait for practice to start," she said, with a longing look in her eyes.

The meeting with the other Captains and Professor Sprout (the new Headmistress) was pretty boring. Sure, it was nice to meet the other Captains, I guess (even though I already knew them all), but Sprout droned on and on about playing fair and House rivalries and whatnot. It had little to do with Quidditch, or maybe that's just me. After her long speech, we all got a sheet of paper which told us when the matches were. The Professor had also been kind enough (note the sarcasm) to plan our try-outs for us. Gryffindor's were the next Saturday. Which was in three days. Joy.

Roxie didn't understand why I wasn't happy with try-outs being then. "Saturday is soon, right? And you wanted the try-outs to be soon. Well, then Saturday's perfect, right?"

"I guess," I said, sighing. "But when I said 'soon', I didn't mean 'in three days'. I glanced over at the notice board. "No one has signed up yet."

"You put up that announcement only ten minutes ago, Dom. Someone will sign up. And if nobody does, we'll just force Al to try out. Simple as that." I stared at her. Although I wasn't looking forward to working with a Seeker who was forced by his entire family to play and didn't even want to himself, it did ease my worries a little.

As I looked around, I already saw James, Fred, Louis and Al all huddled together, and James seemed to be freaking out completely, while Fred was nodding fervently at whatever James was saying. Louis was just laughing his arse off, and Albus looked positively scared. Roxie had noticed too, and was joining in with Louis' laughter, even at this distance.

These were desperate times though, so I decided to intervene. "Dom!" James practically yelled at me before I was even near them. "Come here and tell Al that _he_ _has to try out_! It's a matter of life and death! It's – "

"James, sod off," Al muttered. I got a feeling that, if James would continue buggering his brother, Al wouldn't try out just because of that.

"James – Al's right, _please_ shut up for a minute, will you?" I told him sternly. James looked at me with a look that clearly said 'Traitor!', but I chose to ignore that. "Al – you know James is right as well. You're probably the best Seeker Gryffindor can get and it would be terrific if you tried out. However," I added, glancing at James (and Fred, Louis and Roxie), "if you really don't want to, then that's fine as well. James – stop harassing your brother about this. If Al doesn't try out because you've been pestering him and he doesn't want to be on the same team as you, I swear I'll kill you." Alright, maybe that was a bit much. But at least I got my point across; James looked at least _a little_ guilty now. "Oh, and Al? Just so you know – Roxie and I decided that you'll be our Seeker anyway if no one will try out Saturday."

Fred grinned at hearing this and Louis was, once again, rolling around on the floor from laughing so hard. Even Al looked mildly amused. "Sure, Dom. I'll think about it," he said. "I might have a couple of conditions before I join the team, though."

"And what would that be?" I asked, though I thought I already knew the answer.

"James has to stop bothering me," he answered, glaring at his older brother. I knew exactly how he felt. Kind of. "At least on the pitch. I think that was the only condition, actually."

"Sure, Al, we'll take that in consideration," I said, grinning at him, before heading back to Roxie, who was, by now, studying the sheet of parchment that had the dates of the matches on it. "Is it any good?" I asked. I hadn't had the time to look at it myself, so I wouldn't know.

"I guess," she said pensively. "We're playing Slytherin during the first match of the season, then Hufflepuff in early February, and we've also got the final match, against Ravenclaw. I think that's pretty damn good, don't you think?" I nodded. Last season we hadn't had the final match, and if it hadn't been for the Ravenclaw Seeker, Slytherin would have won the Cup. Ravenclaw didn't have a shot at that anymore anyway, and obviously, they liked us Gryffindors more than Slytherins. It had been nerve-wracking, that's for sure.

There had been a handful of hopefuls who were trying out for Seeker, but one of them quickly admitted to have never flown before, another was a first year (who, in my defence, looked like a second year), and the two others gave up rather quickly after seeing Al fly. Easiest try-outs I've ever witnessed.

Immediately after that, I had arranged a practice, to see how everyone was doing. It turned out that there was no reason to worry, for everybody was just as good (or, of course, in Roxie's case, better) as they had been before the summer. Since Al, as the Seeker, could operate rather independently from the rest of the team, there were no problems trying to adjust to him either. All in all, practice went smooth. Except for one tiny thing. Or maybe two.

"James!" I shouted, when my dearest cousin decided, once again, that his brother was already slacking off. "Leave him alone! Focus on your own job, would you?" I knew that he was probably rolling his eyes at me right now, cursing girls and everything that had to do with us again, and would be like this for a little longer, if not until he left Hogwarts, in four more years.

The other thing was something I noticed only after practice, in the changing rooms. Roxie was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Roxie?" I started carefully, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied softly, giving me a tight smile.

"No, you're not," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Look at you, you're completely miserable." I knew what was wrong, but for some reason, I needed to hear her say it. To me. Not to Molly, or anyone else.

"Of course I'm miserable!" she almost yelled. "We just had _Quidditch practice_, which _you_ led. I – I'm sorry, Dom. It just – would've meant so much to me, to lead our team this year and I'm happy for you but I feel so stupid for just expecting to get that badge. I wanted it so badly. I'm – sorry." She was in tears now, so I did the only thing a best friend should do in such a situation; I comforted her as long as she needed me to.

Only when I was lying in bed that night, I remembered Louis' advice back home. _Hand in your badge_. I gulped. Did I even want to? Had I become attached to it already, to that wretched thing? It had brought me, and Roxie for that matter, more misery than anything else.

Merlin help me, I was about to follow my little brother's advice. Who would've ever thought?


	6. Chapter 6

"Dom!"

"Yeah?"

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"… You know what I mean, Dom."

"Alright, I do. And yes, it's true. Why?"

Louis stared at me, wide-eyed. He kind of reminded me of the little second year who had handed me Professor Sprout's note only about a week earlier.

"Louis? You're alright?"

"Dom, you'd better run and hide."

"Run and hide? What for?"

"Roxie."

Oh, right. Roxie. Wait, what? "Why would I have to run from Roxie?"

"Dunno, but she seemed mad."

"Why was she so mad, then? I don't get it."

Louis rolled his eyes. "Then ask her yourself. No, wait. Run and hide, and when she finds you, ask her why she's mad."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Lou, I'm not going to hide. I'm not twelve. I'm too old for playing hide and seek." So what if Roxie and I had joined our younger cousins for an entire week of playing hide and seek this summer? Alright, not the point.

"You're so not," Louis said, grinning. "Anyway – I'll tell you one last time – Roxie is mad at you. If I were you, I'd hide. If you want to die slowly and painfully, go and talk to Roxie now. Your choice."

Little drama queen – king, whatever. Why would Roxie even be mad at me?

_Do you know what's frustrating? Every single day, I see Professor Longbottom several times. Now that I really needed to speak with him, he was nowhere to be found. I pondered asking__ for James' help; with that map of his, he should be able to locate the Professor within seconds. But of course, James was nowhere to be found either._

_It was as if everyone was hiding from me._

_It was a Saturday, so it wasn't like people had classes or something. Where was everybody? I had been standing outside Longbottom's office for an hour and he had yet to turn up. I was just about to leave when I heard footsteps._

"_Dominique!"_

_I turned around at the sound of the voice. "Professor! I was just looking for you!"_

_He frowned a little. "You were? Come in and have a seat. What's wrong?"_

"_Well – " I started, but he interrupted me._

"_Is this about Quidditch again?" he asked. As I nodded, he sighed. "Listen, Dominique, I know that you're just trying to be a good friend – and cousin – but trust me, you're a better Captain than Roxanne."_

"_How would you know?" I asked, growing frustrated. "It's not as if you've given her the chance to prove herself, have you?"_

"_Dominique," he said sternly, "we've talked about this. You were picked as the Captain, not Roxanne. If you're here just to fight that decision again – something I don't exactly understand in the first place – then you'd better leave."_

"_Professor," I pressed, sighing as well now, "I know that Roxie doesn't appear very serious – but about Quidditch, she _is _serious! She knows what she's doing and she might even want to play professionally next year! She should have some experience as a Captain, then, don't you think?"_

"_Dominique," he repeated, rubbing his temples, "you are the Captain, not Roxanne. End of story."_

_I glowered at him; I was pretty pissed off by now. "If you want this to be the end of the story, Professor, fine then," I said softly. "I'm resigning."_

_He looked up so quickly I swear his neck must ache like hell now. "You're what?" he asked disbelievingly. Thank Merlin he didn't start shouting at me. _

"_Resigning," I repeated, "as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I'm sorry, Professor, but it's for the best." With that, I stood up and walked out of the office, before he could say anything else._

So, all in all, I had no idea what Roxie could be so mad about. Nevertheless, Louis was a very bad liar, so if he said the Roxie was mad, then she probably _was_ mad. So I spent the rest of the day in my dorm, writing an essay, conveniently forgetting that _my_ dorm was _Roxie's_ dorm as well.

And naturally, when I was preparing for dinner, the door flew open. "Dominique Weasley!" Roxie called out, pretty loudly. One look at her face told me that my brother had, indeed, not been lying.

"Roxie!" I chirped nervously. I couldn't remember any occasion on which she had not only used my full first name, but even my last name before. "How are you?"

Her face darkened. "Dom, cut the crap, will you? _What were you thinking?_" By now, she had walked over to my bed and started shaking me.

I felt quite dizzy when she finally let go of me. "I was just trying to make you happy," I said in a small voice. "You seemed so depressed ever since we've started this year, and I was… fed up with that, I guess. Besides, you deserved it. You'd be a much better Captain than me."

She shook her head, looking almost disappointed. "But Dom – obviously you deserved it more than I did…"

I attempted to shove her off my bed, only to end up on the floor myself. "Roxie, you should see yourself these days. You're completely miserable. Friends try to fix up friends when they're miserable. The only remedy against your misery was letting you become Captain. Sure, I was honoured that they picked me, but, seriously, it should've been you all along."

I only had a split second to breathe, because half a second after I said that, Roxie had launched herself at me. We'd probably need to talk about this later, when she had calmed down a little and I had recovered from this vicious attack, but at least she didn't seem too angry anymore.

Before I knew what was happening, Roxie had detached herself from me, pulled me to my feet and dragged me down the stairs. "Fred!" she hollered, a big grin plastered on her face. "Guess what?"

"What?" Fred hollered back. As usual, he was playing a game of Exploding Snap with James while Louis was trying to do some homework. By now, Roxie was grinning like mad.

"I'm the new Quidditch Captain!" she practically squealed.

"What?" Fred and James shouted together, obviously confused. Apparently, word hadn't spread as fast as I had expected when I had talked to Louis.

"Yes! Can you believe it?" More squealing.

"You resigned?" Fred asked me incredulously.

"You were the Captain, and you _resigned_?" James added.

I shrugged uncomfortably. "It was the least I could do. It obviously meant a lot more to Roxie than it did to me. Not that it didn't mean anything to me, but – you know."

As Roxie hugged me once more, James gaped at me. "I don't get it. Really. I know I wouldn't care at all if Fred and I both wanted that badge. I wouldn't give it to him."

"Well, James, that's the difference between you and Dom, then, isn't it?" Louis told him, saving us from an argument between Fred and James. James pulled a face, probably thinking about the numerous other differences between the two of us.

"Why did you hand in the badge, then?" Fred asked curiously. "I mean, sure, I'm happy for Roxie, but wasn't there something else you could do?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Where'd you even get the idea of resigning? Not many people do that, you know," Fred asked, speaking before everyone else again.

"Er – Louis," I said hesitantly, glancing at my brother, who let out a loud laugh when I said that, as if not really believing me.

Roxie looked amused as well. "You honestly listen to your little brother, Dom? Wow. I know I'd never listen to Fred, no matter how desperate I'd be."

"Or Al," James added.

"Oh, shut up, you," I said, feeling exasperated now.

"Just don't expect me to go easy on you now, Dom," Roxie said gleefully.

"I wouldn't dare think about it, Roxie," I replied, grinning. I really didn't; I knew Roxie, after all.

* * *

**A/N: **The end! Let me know what you think, please review! :D


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